All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go: Finding Beauty in Unlikely Places

Many of you have said that you’d like to see more behind the scenes stuff so this post is for you. :)

One of the things Sean and I teach on the most is how to find something beautiful when you think there’s nothing you could possibly work with. One way to do this is to look beyond what an object is and search for textures and patterns in your surroundings – no matter what they’re found on.

Take this image for example. I love the color and the pattern on this background. It has a great modern feel and the way the light falls in this location is lovely. Can you tell where it is?

That’s right – it’s an old kitchen mat out back of a restaurant in an alley way. That sounds like a terrible place to make a beautiful image, but by looking for patterns and textures, a floor mat becomes something so much better. (And the awesomeness is just amplified by these two and their awesome posing. ;P)

Just looking for these elements, I bet you can see several great photo opportunities in this small space, right? So next time you’re out shooting and you think there’s nothing to be found, ignore the titles your brain wants to place on objects and look for the pleasing elements that make up those objects. The possibilities for beautiful imagery are all around you. :)

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